UPDATED: The Avengers – Joss Whedon is hours away from directing it

Great news for fans of Joss Whedon (oh Firefly!) but a rumour from a few weeks ago that said he was in the running to direct The Avengers for Marvel Studios could well be true.

Deadline (who are usually spot on with these things) have the news that Joss Whedon is in final negotiations to direct The Avengers.

That means he would be in control of Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), as well as SHIELD leader Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and whoever else they decide to include – possibly the Hulk, the Wasp, Hawkeye.

After Iron Man 2, Marvel has three pictures left on a distribution deal with Paramount before it moves to Disney, and the studio has been churning them out. Iron Man 2 gets released in May, Captain America will begin shooting this summer in Europe, Thor is in production, and Marvel Studios just set Pete Sollett to direct Runaways, based on the comic book series created by Lost writer Brian K. Vaughan. Whedon also wrote for that last one along with Astonishing X-Men so he knows how these things work.

True, Serenity is his only feature film, but all of his shows involve an ensemble cast of people with various abilities so his transition to directing the team of Avengers should work quite well.

I really think he is an excellent choice for the film although it is still not set in stone. Do you agree that Whedon is the one to direct the Avengers or is it a terrible choice? Who else should they have on the team?

The Avengers is due out in May 2012.

UPDATE: Variety have picked up on the news that Whedon is in final negotiations to direct and if it does go ahead he will also rework the screenplay by screenwriter Zak Penn.

It will be nice if this all happens. Now another question – if he could bring in some of his crew what characters would you like to see the following play?

Leonardo Mattar Monteirosaid

He’s good. Good director, screenwriter, producer… but isn’t too big a challenge for someone with so little experience in epic projects? Hmm… I don’t know. Would prefer to see his WONDER WOMAN with MONICA BELLUCCI… GASPAR NOÉ should direct her in the “badassest” version possible of “WW”. Then we’re talking!